


The French Mistake

by Riddle



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 20:44:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1997184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddle/pseuds/Riddle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Off on another adventure after Trenzalore, the Doctor and Clara find themselves in an alternate universe in which they don't exist. Here they are not time lord and companion, but rather 2 actors named Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman. During a break from filming the 50th anniversary special, they both realize that this world is not what they thought and that a dangerous and ancient enemy is playing with them and setting a diabolical scheme to hurt the Doctor in a way that he has never seen the likes of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

"Why do you have to ask such strange questions?" The doctor asked clearly irritated

"Its not strange to ask how the TARDIS works, I want to to know. Because I mean like what makes it go?" Clara argued

"It's a weird question, besides it's all sciencey whiencey and it would take all the fun out of everything. It just does okay. " The doctor answered straightening his bowtie

Clara rolled her soft brown eyes, it was like after all this he still didn't trust her enough to answer her questions. That, or he honestly had no idea, and he was just to stubborn to admit it—yep that sounded like him to her.

"You know, you can't trust me. Have I not proven that I'm loyal?"

"No, Clara it has nothing to do with loyalty. But I had this same argument with another of my companions once before, she just accepted that I wasn't going to tell her and she moved on."

"Well then she was mad, and so are you for thinking that I would do that."

"Mad mad Martha…" he mumbled to himself

Clara could never understand why the doctor kept his past so secretive. The Great Intelligence had said that the doctor had a dark past, which Clara could understand, he went around the world saving people and planets, losing people along the way surely. But what could he have possibly done to make himself like this?

"What?" she asked, hoping for the millionth time that maybe he might open up on his somewhat insane ramblings.

He looked up, with a glassy look in his eye, "No on-" he caught himself "Nothing," he corrected.

"So where to then doctor? Back out to see the stars or are we on a planned course?"

he smiled, sauntering over back to his control panel.

"Some where special," he said mysteriously "I got a note, a special note saying to go and see an old friend." He said holding out his brown booklet of psychic paper.

The words 'come quickly doctor.' Were scribed out on the paper, but disappeared again just as fast as they had come. It was signed with the name 'brigadier lethbridge-stewart'.

"Who is brigadier?" Clara asked, but she regretted it the moment she said it. The look on the doctor's face was heart crushing. His eyes were struggling to stay dry, and his lower lip quivered.

"A friend," was all he said "but that's not who this note is from,"

Clara stopped… "but that's who signed it," she stated

He nodded "Indeed, but there is more than one brigadier lethbridg-stewart," he said

"So it's a name?"

"yes and no."

"What does that even mean?!"

"Brigadier is a title, but lethbridge stewart, it a name."

"Why was it signed with both then?"

"Because the person that sent this, is the brigadier's daughter, and she knows that I will always come when called with that name."

Now Clara was getting suspicious, who was this person?

He trotted around the panel, pressing buttons and pulling levers, typing on the keyboard and watching and calculating the results on the monitor.

"I'm following the coordinates from the note,"

he told her

"What coordinates? I didn't see any?"

"Psychic paper, you get better at reading it with time. Don't worry about Clara."

He continued to type and press,, mumbling to himself words in a tongue she couldn't decipher.

"Here. !" he said as he flipped the final switch

There was a rumble beneath their feet, and the floor panels began to vibrate. But the motion crescendo-d became increasingly violent.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Clara yelled in a panic

He looked flabbergasted. "I haven't the faintest he said."

"The TARDIS seems to be reacting to the command, quite poorly it would appear,"

"Really?! Now what might have given that away!" she snapped

The console exploded into a mass of sparks, and the TARDIS veered to one side, nocking them all off of their feet. It finally stopped, with a massive quake.

"What happened?"

Clara asked, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer

"I don't know, " he got up and sprinted to the panels again, slapping on of the monitors when it wouldn't display the usual control screen.

"What do you suppose is out side that door Doctor?" she asked gesturing to the exit of the TARDIS

"We could be any where, swallowed by a back hole, stranded in E space, Pete's dimensions…" he said his final words almost a whisper

"Where?"

He walked over to the doors, and wrapped his hand around the handle.

"Well," he said "You coming?"

She smiled, and got up from the floor. Her legs felt week, and still nauseous from the trip. But mad it to the door without worry.

The doctor pulled the Handle and the doors opened. In that second, Clara would usually feel exited and pumped to see a new world, and visit a different time. But who knew what was beyond that door…all she felt was fear…

The sound of ringing bells and loud rustle filled her ears.

"Cut," a voice yelled "and print!"

Another alarm sounded as they stepped out of the TARDIS, and into an unfamiliar setting.

She scanned the room, and saw people in chairs waiting and watching them exit the TARDIS, large high tech cameras pointed in their direction.

"Doctor what is this?" she asked

"It looks like a sound stage…"

"Like in the TV shows,"

"Well…yea seems to be…"

a woman walked over to them both. She took the doctor's hand and led him away from the TARDIS.

"Great job Matt," she said, "That scene gives me shivers ever time. You too Jenna, fantastic job, glad you got that last line right, I know that you were struggling to get that one just right."


	2. Who am I?

Chapter Two:

"Okay Matt take a seat," the woman said, she was pretty be all means but wore way to much make up. She was tall, and towered over Clara. Her enormous heels didn't help her seems any smaller.

Clara observed the room they had been herded into, a room with two mirrors side by side, reclining chairs possession in front of the mirrors. The two mirrors were lit up with stereotypical bulbs lining the perimeter of the flat surfaces.

The woman began searching the draws around the chairs that they were sitting in, clearly looking for something in particular but unable to find it.

"Ill be right back Matt, gotta check to other station for the make up brush, be back soon." Then she turned to Clara "Ill get you done after that Jenna, you guys are filming another scene out in the field next, so I need to get you fixed up with some earthy tones."

She exited the room, closing the door behind her.

"Okay, what the hell is happening right now?" Clara asked

"I don't know, but it would appear somehow the TARDIS's path was obstructed and I'd assume we fell through the void and came out in another dimension, where we are apparently…actors."

"She called you Matt, is that your real name doctor? I mean it's a fine name, but a bit anti climactic I must say."

He shook his head

"That's not my name, any more than your name is Jenna," He said

Clara sat silently; she still didn't understand what was happening entirely.

"Why would any one make a TV show about our lives?"

"What? Are you saying that I'm not exciting?" He asked looking hurt

"No, I'm just saying it just seems odd to think people have been watching our lives on the telly."

"We should find out more about this…"

He got up from his seat, and Clara followed.

"Don't you think she'll be back soon? The make up woman and notice that we're missing?'

"Nah, she's going to be gone for awhile, she wont be finding that brush anytime soon," he said pulling a make up brush from his jacket pocket.

"You little devil," Clara laughed

The doctor smiled back slyly.

Moments later they had exited the filming stages, and we walking around the trailers and exterior sets out side.

"So what are we looking for?"

"Somewhere to lay low for while until we can find a way to get back to the TARDIS."

She nodded, and stopped in her tracks.

"Look," she said her arm outstretched to one of the trailers.

It had a white piece of paper taped to the door, that read "M. Smith,"

"That's gotta be you!"

"Me?" he asked

"Yeah," she said, "try the door,"

He tugged on the handle and the door popped open. They entered the trailer, and were silent. It was massive, not exactly bigger on the inside, but certainly bigger than expected.

There was a laptop propped open on the table, Clara took a seat at the table and the doctor began to look around. There was a bedroom, and a small kitchenette, a television and a couch.

"Lets see…" She mumbled to herself as she opened the Internet browser.

She typed the name Matt Smith into the search bar, and pressed the enter key.

Almost immediately photos of the doctor popped up on the screen, she gasped. It was weird to see him in these pictures, she knew that whoever this was wasn't really the doctor, but wither way it felt wrong to see him dressed casually and sitting at panels at conventions and posing with fans and another attractive woman that was certainly more than a friend to him.

She clicked on of the links and smiled.

"Doctor," she called "I think I've found something,"

He came back into the room and knelt down next her viewing the screen.

"Okay," she said as she scanned the articles and scrolled through different pages

"It says here that your full name is Matt Robert Smith, you're 30 years old and from Northampton England."

She clicked on the filmography page, and read through it.

"You haven't been in many things, but it says that you are the current Doctor on a British Sci Fi show called Doctor Who."

He was silent.

She didn't know what to say, it was weird. She clicked on the show page link and was lead to the info screen for Doctor Who.

"Whoa, this shows been around for a long time…" she said in awe "50 years, that's insane…"

The doctor grabbed the laptop, and began to read. He clicked on pages about his character, and read more about his actor. His breathing became heavy; it must have been weird to read about his entire life on a character biography page.

Clara knew that he had former bodies, and companions. That he wasn't always the same man. But this took it to a whole new extreme; actors have been playing him for 50 years. It felt like a fairy tale.

He handed back the computer, he was silent and looked like he had just seen a ghost. She didn't dare ask him why.

"Lets see," she said closing out of the doctor's page " They called me Jenna, so…"

She typed in "Jenna/Doctor Who," into the search bar.

The page came up and she filtered through pictures of herself and articles about fake her. She began to feel sick, reading about someone else with the same face as her.

"Jenna-Louise Coleman," she read out loud " Blackpool Lancashire here is England, I'm apparently 27 and dating someone named Richard Madden, oh hes a bit cute." She said biting her lip

The doctor rolled his eyes off to the side.

"I was in Titanic!" she laughed "Oh…and Captain America, that's interesting."

"How is this helping?" the doctor asked

He shrugged "We need to learn about fake us right…"

He didn't have an answer.

"Lets go," he said closing the laptop for her

"Where are we going?"

"I have an idea,"

"Well, its not like that sentence has ever gotten us into trouble before."


	3. The Doctor's Past

Chapter Three:

They both sat in silence for a minute, neither of them dared to speak and break the silence.

There was a knock at the door, and a panicked voice from out side called:

"Matt, Jenna please tell me you're in there?!"

They both glanced at each other, and the doctor got up and opened the door.

The woman from the makeup room appeared in the doorframe.

"Oh thank god," she breathed, "Why did you two leave?"

No response.

"I just went to get a new brush, and you two were gone! The whole crew is looking for you two! You guys are filming again in an hour, and we are late with your make up,"

She grabbed the doctor's wrist and pulled him out of the trailer.

His eyes darted back and forth and finally met hers, they seems to be begging her to help him. It was weird to think of the doctor as the helpless one, but here they were; the doctor completely helpless and confused. Clara knew she had to help him out.

"Sure we'll be right there…" she glanced down at her nametag "Kate,"

"You'd better, Steven's not going to be very happy if you two are late for filming,"

She closed the door, and began to walk away.

"Doctor," Clara, pleaded, "I'm not an actress, I can't film anything!"

"I know Clara," he was silent for a moment and he straightened his bow tie "We'll find a way back home, this isn't the first time I've been trapped in a separate dimension." He informed her

"When?" she asked

'Well now, lets see," he thought for a moment "There was E space, and Pete's world…" he stopped and looked up to shake his head "it doesn't really matter, but we need to get back, the longer we exist in this world the bigger the hole we came here through we become, that's a dangerous paradox that could rip apart the time space continuum,"

"Fine, but we need t get back to the TARDIS right?"

He nodded "Exactly, its in that filming stage we should go back, who knows what happened to the actual Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, but we cant meet the if they are still in this world either, that would be catastrophic,"

She nodded and stood, he opened the door and they left the trailer.

Looking around at her surroundings Clara couldn't help but wonder where they were.

"Where would you say we actually are though, like what country or city?"

"Well, that cite said that this Doctor Who show was a British Sci Fi show so we know we are most likely somewhere is the UK. "

He looked around, and stuck his tongue out as if to taste the air.

"I'd have to say, approximately somewhere is Cardiff, Wales,"

Clara nodded, and they walked down through the rows of trailers their shoes splashing in rain puddles left on the wet asphalt pavement.

"There!" Clara said, pointing over to one of the large filming sets, "that's the one,"

They proceeded over to it, and went inside, the lights were mostly dark but they could see that the producers had left the TARDIS right where it had landed.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's that for?" she asked, "We haven't gotten home yet,"

"I'm just glad that they hadn't moved it,'

"Why would they do that?"

"Remember to them it's just a prop,"

The doctor sauntered over to the blue box, and gave a tug on the handle. The door shook and a hollow wooden sound echoed from the inside out.

"it wont open," the doctor said in awe, he took out the key around his neck and tried to unlock the door again, still nothing worked. He hit the door with his fist, and pounded on it repeatedly. "No! don't do that!"

"So we cant get in?" Clara said a nervous tick in her voice.

"I have no idea why, but no its doesn't look like it."

A horrible thought then occurred to Clara,

"Wait! This might not be the TARDIS if our TARDIS was taken away, the prop people would have thought it was one of theirs, and moved it to storage or something."

He shook his head "No, its just the TARDIS reacting to her surroundings, she doesn't like this world and wont recognize us to let us in,"

Clara's heart sank, out of the corner of her eye though, as they began to turn an leave, she saw something.

"Doctor,"

He kept walking, clearly deep in thought as usual.

"Doctor!" She called again more forcefully

He turned at the mention of his name.

"What?"

She stood next to the TARDIS and pointed to one of the panes of glass in the window.

"Well this could be the problem," she said

He looked at it more closely; it was a crack in the glass. It had happened when they had fallen to Trezalore.

"That's it!" he announced "when hwe landed the TARDIS was damaged, she locked on to you the impossible girl," he said addressing Clara " because she knew that you were the root of the upcoming paradox, like when a computer saves a program automatically before you shut down. Anyway, the TARDIS saved you as a setting and tried to take us back home to earth, after we left. She was damaged the entire time we just didn't know because we were planning on going to Earth anyhow. Now it got all messed up because of the crack, it damaged the saved file and accidentally locked on to the closest world it could find with the same signature, which happened to be this universe."

She ran her fingers along the crack; it was hard to believe that a crack had done all of this.

"Where does that leave us then?"

"No idea, this has never happened before, it won't recognize us and hence won't let us enter the TARDIS so I can't do any repairs,"

She looked up at his concerned, "So, we're stuck here?"

"Until I can work soothing else out…yes…"

"Great…"

At that moment Clara's phone rang, She looked down at it, then back at the doctor.

His eyes widened.

"Whoever is calling will they be calling Clara or Jenna?'

"No idea,"

She flipped it open, and greeted the caller with a timid "hello…"

The voice on the other side was happy and energetic,

"Jenna," it greeted back, at least it answered one question. "You'll be glad to hear that I was able to arrange that lunch you wanted with your co stars,"

"Which co stars?" she asked, still unsure of what it was that they were filming

"You 50th anniversary co starts obviously," the voice laughed "David and Billie will meet you for lunch at that bistro place down on Clarkston,"

"Great," Clara tried to sound enthusiastic

"Hope you don't mind," the voice said again "but Karen and Arthur with be tagging along, don't forget to bring Matt, he will be oh so happy to see them again I'm sure."


	4. Long Time No See

Chapter 4:

"Turn left here," the doctor said, he held Clara's silver cell phone in his hand. "No wait, right…" he corrected flipping the device upside down.

He had been acting noticeably uneasy ever sense Clara had received a call from her publicist informing her that Jenna and Matt had a lunch date with their 'Co-stars'. She didn't recognize the names David, Billie, Karen or Arthur, but when she'd looked them up online, at the sight of their pictures the doctor's face paled and he hadn't seemed quite the same sense. Who were they?

"Up here I think," she said pointing to the sign hanging above a quant little brunch café. The sign dangled on two chains attached to hooks so that it swung in the wind with a slight rusty noise. The black sign read: The Rose.

They walked to the front door, and through the window she saw four people already seated at a booth on the far end of the room. One was a tall lanky looking man with sandy blond hair and slightly nerdy physique complete with comical winter cap and glasses. The woman at his side was beautiful, she was as tall as the man and thin like a model, her bright ginger hair was wavy and tumbled down onto her shoulders. On the other end of the booth was a skinny man with spikey looking brown hair and laugh lines around his eyes and mouth that hinted that he had a great sense of humor. And at this side a blonde woman with bright eyes outlined in black mascara and liner, and wore a scarf rapped around her neck and a wind blazer.

"Arthur, Karen, David and Billie…" Clara muttered softly.

She felt a strange feeling in her stomach like something was wrong and this wasn't meant to happen. She peered over at The Doctor, and her awkward smile fell.

His brown eyes were sunken into his head, and tilted at a downward angle. His face looked like it was being pulled down, because his smile was gone and a shocked look of disbelief was left in its place.

She immediately felt terrible, she hadn't even considered him, and She should have known he knew them; she was being inconsiderate. Whoever they were he recognized them and perhaps the last time he'd seen them things hadn't ended well.

"Who are they Doctor?" She asked softly

He waited a moment in silence, "They are all people from my past…or I suppose they are the actors that played them in this world."

"But who are they?"

"The ginger girl…" he looked down, either out of shame or guilt. "Her name is…was Amelia, I used to travel with her." He smiled slightly "The other in the glasses, that's…uh that's Rory—her husband. The Ponds…" He immediately refused to meet her eyes and tilted his head up, as if to keep tears from falling from his eyes.

"What about the other two?'

"The man, well he's a bit different…" he seemed to search for the right phrasing. "He is…he's me."

A jolt went up Clara's spine, she wanted to scream: "WHAT?!" but stopped her self, this wasn't the time. She just nodded.

Before she could ask, the doctor continued "and the blonde girl, that's…well that's Rose."

He had introduced the first two 'the Ponds' like they were his best mates, and the brown haired man like he was a dangerous secret. But he spoke the word Rose with a twinkle in his eyes, like he hadn't said her name in years, and he had forgotten how the word felt on his tongue. But behind each of his introductions was a hint of remorse, like they were not only people from his past, but people he didn't plan on seeing again in the future…that though made Clara shiver. Had all of these people been like her once? Traveling with the Doctor.

"We should go in." She suggested

He didn't respond at first, but eventually asked the last question Clara had expected to hear come from his mouth: "Why?"

"Why?" She repeated surprised "Because we need to understand this world, and if we raise too much suspicion directed towards us and after nowhere else to go, then we might have to tell the truth and we'd get tossed in a rubber room. That's why. So unless you've got another idea, we need to do this."

Her eyes fixed on him, she was used to seeing him strong and intelligent, as if he could never be hurt by the ills of the universe. But now he looked genuinely distressed and confused, this world was just as much a mystery to him as it was to her, and that though scared her beyond all reason. It didn't help that the people who clearly meant a lot to him kept showing up, and these people brought with them memories tethered to emotions, which he had long sense buried and refused to deal with.

"We're going in," she decided her knees feeling weak and shaky, but she nodded her head decidedly sticking to her decision.

She tugged on the door handle and walked into the café. The warm air greeted them with the smell of cinnamon and fresh baked scones and with a hint of something sugary and fruity like the filling of Danishes.

The four heads turned to face Clara and The Doctor, four pairs of eyes staring at them expectantly. Clara felt a moment of regret, and she worried that this was a very bad idea.

The ginger woman stood up and walked over to Clara. Towering over her she hunched over to wrap her long pale arms around her shoulders.

"Jenna, " she greeted in a Scottish accent "So nice to see you again, come on have a seat." She motioned with her hand directing her to a seat at the table.

She turned behind her, to see the doctor. The woman walked over to him, and with great familiarity, like that between great friends she hugged him, and smiled. Then pointed to his clothes, and with a wink she said:

"Hello Raggedy Man, long time no see."


	5. Something is Wrong

Chapter 5:

He was totally speechless, he couldn't think of a single word to say, not one. But it was more than that, he wasn't just unable to speak he looked unable to function. He was just frozen. This tall thin woman with the long ginger hair had rendered him like Clara had never seen. She wanted to love it, but there was something else, he was struggling to comprehend, he looked sad and confused and joyous and angry all at the same time.

Clara took a seat next to the red headed woman that she recognized as Karen Gillan from the Internet page, she was the actress that played the Doctor's former companion Amy. The woman was tall and thin and unbelievably beautiful, standing near her Clara felt slightly uneasy and unimpressive. But mostly it was the way The Doctor stared at her, like an old friend that he missed and desperately wanted to see again. Clara didn't know anything about the doctor's past, and hadn't read much about Amy, and the doctor had barely said anything about her but still…

Clara took a seat next to Karen, and The Doctor sat next to the man with tall spikey brown hair—David.

Karen had a delicious plate of eggs and sausage in front of her, and Arthur had a full bowl of oatmeal and fruit, Billy had a chocolate croissant and bowl of fruit salad and David had a small pile of pancakes covered in syrup and powdered sugar. It all smelled and looked incredible, and Clara realized for the first time how hungry she was, and then she thought it was odd but she couldn't remember how long they had been in this world, she couldn't account for the time at all…

Her pulse rose a little while she considered what that could mean. Then Karen turned to her, and she realized that everyone around her had been talking, and she hadn't been paying any attention.

"Sorry what?" she asked

"Any plans after this?" Karen repeated "We were just saying that maybe since we are all staring together in the anniversary special, we need to get to know each other to work on our on screen chemistry."

"Oh…uh yeah totally sure, but th-…Matt and I have something to do first, we can catch up later probably."

"Sure," She said

The rest of the breakfast went by quickly, it was awkward and strange. The conversation was mostly one sided, the others talked around them and not to them. Which she was grateful for, she didn't know any of these people, and wasn't familiar with any of the things that they talked about. It was nice being back to normal, it was slightly like life had been before she met the doctor, going out with her mates and meeting up just to chat. Things that she hadn't been able to do in quite a while, but still, it wasn't the same, because they weren't her friends and not matter how nice they seemed.

They said good-bye and left the restaurant, neither her nor the doctor said a word until they were back at the set and on board Matt's trailer.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, resting her hand on his shoulder.

He looked up, "Oh yeah totally, I'm the king of alright…oh that's a rubbish title."

He had the normal fake smile plastered on his face, the No of course I'm not okay, I'm no where near alright, nothing is right and it never will be. Everything has fallen apart, and everyone I love has left me. I have nothing, and deserve everything.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "No…"

She looked out the window, and saw the sun had already gone down and it was dark outside.

"Doctor…"

He said nothing.

"Doctor!"

He turned and looked at her.

"What Clara?"

"Look out the window,"

He did, and his eyes widened. "Its night time, but it was just morning…"

"Time is disappearing, I don't know what is happening, and I don't know how long we've been in this world."

He looked fearful, and his eyes were thoughtful. "This is all wrong,"

"What ever happened, we created a paradox just by being here, its unraveling time, the progression is screwed up, its not following linear progression. I mean times not linear of course its more like….oh never mind."


	6. Consequences and Surprises

Chapter 6:

"It's cracking, time is falling apart?!"

"I wouldn't say cracking, but deteriorating. Time is rotting away."

Clara swallowed hard, and felt a cramp in her stomach. She knew deep down that this whole situation was way too weird and strange even for their adventures not to bring trouble.

"Then we need to leave, we need to get out now. Before its too late."

This whole thing was bad news from the get go, but she had played along and not considered the consequences of her actions. It was her that forced the Doctor to stay and tortured him by making him meet look a likes to his old friends. She hated to admit it but she was a massive control freak, she tried to cover it up with a bubble personality and exterior but that part of her would always be there. And this was her nightmare situation, not only had she lost all control everything but she in fact had caused all of the problems.

"Doctor, I need to fix this. This is all my fault!"

"No its not Clara, and even if it were it wouldn't matter. Whose fault it is doesn't matter, we need to stop what is happening, that needs to be our first priority.

She nodded so hard she hurt her neck. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself 30 seconds to take slow breaths. She felt her pulse slow, and her stomach uncurl, she focus on calming down. Then softly counted to ten in her mind. And when she opened her eyes the doctor was gone.

"Doctor?" she said loudly, there was no response.

"Doctor?!" She repeated again, but now as a yell.

Again she had lost control of the situation. Everything felt like chaos. But then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

Her head jerked behind her to face the man, who had laid the hand on her. Familiar brown hair and kind eyes made her feel relaxed.

"David!" She breathed

He gave her a concerned look and cocked his head to one side.

"Jenna are you feeling alright?" he asked her plainly, with not even a hint of judgment in his tone.

"No." she sighed miserably "I've lost Matt, and I'm afraid I don't know this part of the city well at all, I'm quite lost and quite confused."

David shrugged "Geez, that's no good. Here come with me I can help you get to your car."

"Uh, I walked here actually," she blushed

She waited for him to comment on the fact that she had walked here but could walk back and retrace her track, but he didn't.

"Well I could escort you, but rule number 1, don't wonder off." He said as though he resisted it numerous times before. But when he had said it, he winked and suddenly the words took on a new meaning to her, though she didn't yet know what it was.

"Umm thanks for your help," she said sifting uncomfortably "but I can probably figure it all out."

He had seemed nice enough before, and someone to be with didn't sound so bad at the moment. But times were changing and she didn't know much abut this world, and she wasn't sure if she could trust him.

He nodded, and walked in the opposite direction, leaving her standing along in the street.

Her phone rang by her side, and she quickly grabbed for it and answered the call hoping to hear a familiar voice.

"Clara where did you go?" said the voice, and as soon as she heard it she felt flooded with relief.

"Doctor! I was about to say the same to you. We were just standing by the café, and you completely disappeared."

"I'm in the same place that we were, I'm sure of it. It must have been you that moved."

She scanned her surroundings; the café was still where it was supposed to be right in the curb, and the trees and bushes that she had seen an hour ago in morning sun light were now shaded with night but still there none the less.

"No I'm quite sure I'm exactly where we were." She persisted

"Don't argue with me Clara, I am 1200 years old and an alien with two hearts and a brain more effective than your laptop. I'm very sure that I'm correct."

"You liar!"

Silence on the other end "Rule number one: the doctor lies," his voice said almost in a whisper.

Immediately, her reaction was ask him what in the hell he was going on about, when something that he said struck her as more odd that his usual ramblings.

"Rule number One…" she repeated in a daze "what was that you said?"

"The doctor lies?" he asked

"But that's not right is it, rule number one is don't wonder off," she said remembering what David had said to her, and more importantly how he had said it.

"How do you know those words Clara?" he asked slowly

"David, he told them to me. " she said once more replaying the incident trying to identify what the encounter had felt off. "But…"

"'But' what?" The doctor asked

"But he said them oddly, I mean surly he was referring to a line he had when he played you right?" she said unsure "but he said it with a wink, those words weren't just a line to him, they were an actual rule."

"You're right," said a voice behind Clara, a moment later the same voices could be heard on the other end of the phone. The doctor was hearing the voice too.

This time when she spun to see who was behind her, the air felt as though it had been knocked out of her lungs.

David, Billy, Arthur and Karen all stood side by side behind her.

Billy stepped forward, and with a smile said "I'm sorry Clara, but there is more to this than you yet know."

Karen nodded in agreement, she opened her mouth to explain but only said "Okay kids, this is where it gets complicated."


	7. Who are YOU?

Chapter 7:

"What does that even mean?!" Clara asked flustered "You show up here trying to creep me out I can only assume, after I can also only assume that kidnapped the do-Matt…" She corrected herself

"It's okay Clara," said Karen "We know who you really are."

Clara felt her eyes narrow "How…?"

"Because there is more to this than you know, you are not the only ones to fall through time and space."

"Who are you…I mean really." Clara breathed

"I need you to stay calm, but …" she turned and looked at Arthur he nodded and she turned back "I'm Amelia Williams and this is Rory."

Clara felt her head start to spin. "What? No. Those are your characters…you're not actually real."

Amelia's eyes spun around annoyed "Well then I suppose he didn't pick you for you brains then."

"Oi!" Clara scoffed, her eyes scanned Amelia and then she felt herself sneer. "And I'm guessing he didn't chose you for your personality."

My god that is the most legs I have ever seen on a living human being Clara though to herself.

Amelia through her hands up exasperated. She turned to Rory and gave him a look that seemed to say I'm not getting through here you try.

"Clara it's true, you and the Doctor came here when the TARDIS fell through time due to the crack, Amy and I came here after we were meant to be sent back in time. A weeping angel caught us off guard, and they use time vortex energy to create rifts, we fell through one that was improperly formed or something."

He pursed his lips "Look I know it seems like it makes no sense, but that is just because it doesn't make any sense."

David stepped forward nodding. "What he tells you is true, it happened to Rose and I too."

"Rose…" Clara felt herself whisper "Wait, so are you the doctor too?"

"Sort of…" he said scratching the back of his head "I am the doctor but I am not…him."

"Are you, or are you not the Doctor? Stop speaking in riddles!"

Rose laughed and bit her lower lip, "Haha you really don't know him very well do you."

"He is the doctor, but he is the human version of the doctor." Rose clarified "The metacrises." She added.

"I'm a human time lord hybrid, I age and live and die like a human but have the mind and the memories of a time lord." The metacrises said.

"We were placed in an alternate universe, one that is slightly ahead of yours, wormholes began to open and reality fell apart, we tried to help but were swallowed by the holes and we ended up here. From what we can tell someone or something is causing these holes on purpose, they seem to be gathering people with a connection with the doctor."

Clara nodded "But what about the time changes? And the Doctor disappearing?"

"We think someone is playing with us, changing the board if you will, adding new players from different time lines controlling things that shouldn't be possible to control."

"Why would someone do that?" Clara spat

"Million quid question," Rose said

It occurred to Clara that Rose reacted very differently to the circumstances, she might have been scared or confused, but she seemed genuinely pleased. The way she looked at her metacrises, hinted that they truly were love and that she trusted him as much as he trusted her; As much as Clara wanted the Doctor to trust her, and as much as she wanted to trust the doctor.

"So can we get him back?" She asked looking down at her hand where her phone was still open and on. She raised it up to her ear and spoke:

"Doctor, did you get any of that?"

"Yeah…" His voice was slow and quite

"So do you have ideas about this?"

"Well parallel universes aren't new to me, but I can't say I have ever seen one quite like this." He then proceeded to mumble something about psychic pollen under his breath.

In that moment she realized for the first time the true magnitude of the doctor. His adventures spanned so long before, and they would continue so long after her. He had met and traveled with so many people and been to so many places, so many wonderful places that she would never have the life span to see for herself. He would live long after she was gone, and someday he would forget her. Someday his memory of her would fade so that at first it would only be a gap a few days when he wouldn't giver he a thought, then weeks and months and years. Then suddenly after some time, she would just be one of his companions. She wouldn't be brilliant Clara, she wouldn't be amazing Clara, she wouldn't be Impossible Clara. She would just be Clara. Plain old simple boring Clara that thought shook her to bone and caused to head to spin, the air to be knocked from her lungs and for her to feel hot tears burn behind her eyes. She was nothing to him.

"Clara," a voice said shaking her from her daze. She quickly wiped a tear falling down her cheek away. "Are you alright?"

She gasped in a shaky breath and snapped herself out of her haze. "Yeah."

Amy put her hand on Clara's shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile. Clara couldn't help but smile back; she realized that Amy must have had all of these thoughts too. Amy must have wondered about the future and the past, just like Clara. She knew the doctor and she was uniquely qualified to understand Clara's hopes and fears, especially the new ones.

Just then, there was a loud tearing sound, followed by a terrible screeching noise. Clara lurched forward to cover her ears her eyes squeezed shut. When she opened them and straightened her posture, she saw the most horrible beast that she had ever seen. She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth.

"What the hell is that?!" She screamed right as it charged at her.


	8. Wishes Granted

The beast was worse than anything that she had ever seen. Clara didn't even know how to react; the thing was disgusting. It was massive with a body like a lion, but a face like a mole. It's thick brown pelt, was tangled and gnarly. Its screech sounded like a sharp howl, it sounded like it was in pain.

"What the hell is that?" He asked as it charged at her.

It moved remarkably fast for its bulky exterior. Its legs were pumping like the pistons on a machine. Drool hung out of its mouth, and its teeth were clenched into a snarl. Its dark fur was matted with mud and what Clara really hoped wasn't blood.

"I've no idea." Rose said urgently "But I suggest that we run!"

Clara turned on her heels and sprinted like she had never sprinted before. She propelled herself quickly, thrusting her arms in front of her and back, inhaling when they were in front and exhaling when they were towards her rear.

She turned a corner and followed Rose through the door of the Café. She ushered Amy, Rory and the doctor in behind her.

Amy reached for a broom in the corner of the room, and jammed it between the handles of the doors, locking them from opening. The creature howled angrily at the door, ramming it's body into the glass forcing it shutter with the force.

Rose turned to the Doctor and smiled ridiculously "I know we are running for our lives, but seriously. I have missed this. You can't get this at Torchwood."

"Torchwood?" Clara asked

"Oh! It's a sort of organization that prepares the human race for aliens and out space life forms. Its like ghost busters."

Off in the corner, the meta-crisis Doctor had started humming the ghost busters theme and bobbing his head around on the beats.

"It used to siphon off weapons that they had collected for research, and instead used them to kill alien races. In our world though we reformed it and it works to help and protect humans and alien races alike." Rose continued

"Oh," Clara said softly, she felt almost embarrassed, she was a teacher not some cool alien research protector.

The lights above her flickered, and then went out surrounding the room in total darkness.

"So you then Doctor." Clara said, "Do you recognize that thing?"

He nodded "I do." He stopped and waited for second "They're called GENIES. They are an alien species genetically engineered to be able to bend space and time, to create alternate realities. "

"Genies?" Rory choked "Like Aladdin? Robin Williams?"

"What?" The metacrises spat "No. Well a little bit, but mostly no; really almost completely absolutely no. Generally no."

"Right well thanks for clearing that up. You are most defiantly the doctor."

"Oh my god the Doctor!" Clara yelled, suddenly remembering that he was still on the other line. "Doctor are you still there?" She called into the phone.

"Yeah alright, I am still here!" Came his voice

"Did you get all or any of that?"

"Yes! But also No, Mostly No."

She stopped, and even though his voice was different, and he inflected the words on different syllables she knew when he said that, that he really was the same man. There was more than one version of the Doctor, and she knew this, yet she hadn't really understood it until now.

"Well what should we do?"

He thought for a minute "Well I don't know, I'm not even sure how it could be here. They were all imprisoned after their creators saw how dangerous they were. But despite their danger, they were supposed to be docile. They aren't usually so crazed."

"Maybe someone riled them up?" Said the Doctor's voice from the phone on speaker in Clara's hand.

"Who would do that?"

"The same maniac who brought us all here together?" Amy suggested sharply

Clara stood up from the table that she had been leaning against. She raised one single finger. "Wait, do you hear that?"

Rory squinted his eyes confused. "Um no…what is it?"

"Exactly, there is nothing. That GENIE thing it isn't growling any more." She turned to look towards the window "Where is it? Where did it go?"

The double doors to the kitchen behind them swung open. The rusty hinges rang out in an irritating squawk. Through them though, came the Doctor. He was dressed in his usual idiotic clothing. Dark coat and light blue shirt, bow tie and dress pants and shoes. He had an idiotic grin on his face, and his eyes lit up when he saw all of his former companions.

"Doctor!" Clara cried

"Clara!" He rushed forward and swept her up into his arms, he swung her around casually.

As he placed her feet firmly back on the ground, his eyes landed on Amy. He had been listening over Clara's phone ever since he had been separated. He had heard what Karen had said and he now knew who she really was.

"Amelia…" he exhaled

Clara immediately felt her heart sink; it was Amy, it had always been Amy. Clara didn't want to be jealous of Amy, but it was hard not to. She couldn't argue with the Doctor and Amy's relationship. It was old and strong, what Rose was to the metacrises apparently was what Amy was the Doctor. She was important to him and she was an old friend that knew his secrets and more about him than she ever would. Clara just didn't want to be the ghost of someone from his past. She had finally gotten the Doctor to move on from the echoes of her through out history, she didn't need to be in competition with someone that had been gone until now.

"And Rory the Roman!" The Doctor exclaimed reaching forward to hug Rory, wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

"Doctor!" Amy and Rory both greeted

They looked at each other and Amy finally laughed saying "We thought we could never reveal ourselves to you, I'm so glad that we could Doctor."

Clara noticed Rose watching sadly from the corner, she was holding hands with the metacrises, but Clara saw the longing in her eyes. She had traveled with him, and she had been where Amy and Clara had been. It was honestly so weird, having so many people connected with the doctor all in one place. It felt competitive almost, like you had to show that you were the one he cared for most.

"Doctor!?" A female voice squeaked from the back room "Doctor oh my god is it you?"

The doors swung open, and a beautiful woman walked through.

Both Doctors stood immediately, recognition shone in their eyes. Both then spread the same thin smile across their lips.

"Martha Jones," the doctor beamed "Voice of a nightingale."

She lunged for him to. "Thank god!" she said "Doctor what the hell is going on!"

Martha as he had called her, turned and saw all the others in the room. Her eyes finally resting on Rose and the Metacrises, her brow furrowed.

"How…is that…?"

"That is a very long story."


	9. Enemies

Chapter 9:

The woman that the doctor had called Martha Jones, looked taken back.

"A long story?" She said repeating what the Doctor had said "I am taking a cab home from work one night and the cab takes a turn down a road I don't know and suddenly I am in a back ally. That back ally connects to a café that has you inside it! You're damn right it's a long story!"

Martha's dark eyes scanned the room; there was a layer of intelligence to her eyes. It was obvious in the way that she looked around the room; she looked objectively and analytically as though she was looking for something particular. It was like watching someone play "I Spy".

When Martha's eyes finally landed on Amy, Rory, The real non-metacrises Doctor and Her, a wave of confusion flooded her face.

She turned to the metacrises and said carefully "Who are they?"

Clara hesitantly took a step forward "Oh! Umm well I'm Clara, this is Amy, Rory and the Doctor." She introduced, pointing to each of them individually.

Her brow furrowed immediately. "The doctor…" the said quizzically

Clara expected Martha to ask a bunch of questions or act really confused, but instead she just raised her hands and massaged her temples as though she had a raging headache.

"You know what? I don't even want to know." She said exasperatedly as thought this happened a lot and she saw it as a nuisance

Her focused her attention back on the Metacrises and rushed in for a hug. "Weird doppelgangers or not, its good to see you mister."

The metacrises beamed a wide smile and hugged her back tight.

"How come you don't hug like that anymore?" Clara asked the Doctor

He gave her a look of absolute betrayal "I am shocked by you Clara, I hug all the time of course I hug like that!"

Martha then smiled wide and hugged Rose too. They all seemed like the best of friends, and then Clara found herself looking at the Ponds and wondered why they didn't have some super special friendship relationship like that. Then she remembered that she had never met them until a few hours ago.

"Wow people are just coming out of the wood work." Clara mumbled under her breath, she didn't want to be bitter and she was sick of her own attitude but she found herself a little annoyed. She didn't care about the fact that he had other companions, she cared that he never talked about them despite the fact that they were clearly once the best of friends.

Her doctor gave a confused look and spun on his heels. "Amy," he said turning to his ginger companion "how long were you all here before we came? And before that Rose and…me?"

Amy's irises drifted to the corners of her eyes as if she were looking for something that was up and a little to the left, but she was clearly thinking.

"I'd say about a day before Rose and other you, and then maybe a 12 hours before you."

"And we were hear for maybe 5 or 6 hours." He said softly and in though "People are appearing closer and closer together in time, if this is someone's plan then that means they're speeding up the progression."

"What does that mean?" Clara asked, "Will there be more people coming out of no where?"

"Well," The metacrises said cocking his head to the side as he said it "Its difficult to say, but so far based on the evidence…yeah."

"So basically people related to the doctor are being gathered together in the same spot by an unknown force for some equally unknown reason. Great." Martha pieced together

"Basically yes." Rose said

"Well, we should figure out the who's the why's and the how's." Amy announced

"Right you are." The doctor said "It would have to be someone that knows me and my friends well enough to find them; and also someone who would have the power and the knowledge to control and tame the GENIES."

"Sorry who are the GENIES?" Martha asked

"Aliens that can make different dimensions." Rory said filing her in

"The Daleks." Rose suggested

"Too diabolical, they wouldn't waist their time playing with us like this."

"The silence." Amy said

"Nah," the metacrises spat "The papal mainframe has got them under control now that the Kovarian feet is disbanded."

"Sorry, but how do you know about the Silence?" Clara asked

"We have them in our world too, I'm sure the details are slightly different but still same overall I imagine."

The doctor nodded in agreement. "Not them."

"The time lords." Clara supposed

"They would have the tech and the know how, but still they're sealed away."

"Sorry but what!?" Rose and the Metacrises said in unison with equal levels of puzzlement

"Long story. I'll explain later." The Doctor said

"Oh no…" Martha's face dropped

"What?" they all said together

"Well I mean think about it. Who knows the doctor well enough to know that his friends are most important to him? Who would have the know-how and the aptitude to actually work this plan out? And who hates the doctor more than any other person that would fit on that list?"

Both doctors stood quickly, they had blank white looks on their faces. They seemed to have seen a ghost, the same ghost.

"No." Said the metacrises "He was with the Timelords, he should be trapped too!"

"The cracks…" Clara whispered, "The cracks were the Timelords…"

"A door one opened can be stepped through both ways…" The Metacrises said softly as though remembering someone he had lost

"It can't be, can it?" Martha asked, her voice shaking slightly.

The two Doctor's met each other's eyes and they for a moment understood one another, and everyone else understood their grace silence. It was.

"But we helped him when last we met!" The Doctor said

"Sure we helped him," The metacrises admitted "But he only fought with us to get revenge on the people that he hated more that us. The same people that we aloud him to be trapped with and probably tormented by for all these years since."

"How do you remember this?" he doctor said, "You weren't there."

"Yes I was, its all wibbley wobbiley timey whimey," he said "it had to do with TORCHWOOD don't make me go into it. Especially not now."

And in the back round distance—somewhere outside-there was a familiar wheezing sound; the noise that brought hope to the hearts of all who heard it. The stifled engines that they all knew it was the sound of a TARDIS landing


End file.
